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A Day of Offshore Chilling at Ap Lei Chau

Even with the newly opened MTR station, Ap Lei Chau, or Aberdeen Island, as we know today still hints at a long-lost fishing village. Hip dinning outlets surround its serene residential complexes, and at the typhoon shelter, fishing vessels and sampans buffeting against each other as they have for hundreds of years.

This once fishing village started gaining traction when the Ap Lei Chau Bridge opened in the 80s, quickly emerged as a popular living area with residential developments including Ap Lei Chau Estate, South Horizons and Lei Tung Estate.

Come face to face with Ap Lei Chau today, you’ll be amazed by its rich testimonies to the past and its layers of modern pleasure. The brand new South Island Line, the burgeoning F&B scene and unique village appeal are why Ap Lei Chau is a new favourite for home seekers and tourists.

12:30 pm | Stir - Fry KingMy favorite dinning spot in Ap Lei Chau, this little home-style Chinese eatery offers an all-inclusive menu from seafood, claypot rice to hotpot at friendly prices. Normally there’s no line outside the restaurant but it doesn’t mean the food is not worth eating; this two-storey diner is nearly full every day. Its sizzling sirloin pot is my go-to dish every time because of its richness; and its lemon chicken is sweet and sour heaven.

119-121 Ap Lei Chau Main Street2552 6638

14:00 pm | Hing Tai Yee Grocery Heading down the Main Street you’ll reach what’s believed to be the oldest shop in town - Hing Tai Yee Grocery. Family owned and managed for four generations, this hundred-year-old grocery shop stands as a reminder of Ap Lei Chau’s bygone age, having witnessed a series of geographical shifts for fishermen from home boat, hut to wooden cottage and to modern residential building.

The family business started out selling vegetable before the Second World War and turned to sell rice after it, moving from no.99 to 60 on the Main Street.

60 Ap Lei Chau Main Street2552 7316

15:00 pm | Ap Lei Chau Waterfront Promenade A stone throw’s from the Main Street, Ap Lei Chau Waterfront Promenade offers a glimpse into Hong Kong’s bygone age. Here, village allure still lingers with fishing vessels and sampans resting on the shore, and shipyards and temples adding to its vintage charm.

The Promenade stretches along the Aberdeen Typhoon Harbour with pleasant walking trails that are very well-paved and scenic. You’ll come across several park facilities, plazas and the historical Hung Shing Temple.

16:30 pm | Yau Woo Store This subtle store is a hidden gem for local desserts. Inside the store are stacks of snacks on display but what’s truly exciting is a vast span of traditional local desserts by the entrance - from sago pudding, water chestnut cake, banana roll to all sorts of steamed rice cakes on offer.

Staple food aside, the most characteristic trace of a small village town at Ap Lei Chau lies in the people. No shop here would make an effort to tout products at all; all workers at the stores look so content that it seems even raising an enquiry would disturb the calm and serenity of their lives.

110 Ap Lei Chau Main Street

18:00 pm | So Kee Come here with a magazine and be prepared to stand in line at So Kee, where it serves all the best-known cha chaan teng staples at prices way friendlier than those from Central. Have a crispy pork bun and a milk tea and enjoy a line of landscape photography on the walls taken by the shop owner from his journey to the world, from Xinjiang’s Tashkurgan town, Kenya great migration to Northern Lights in Iceland.

16 Hung Shing Street2555 1717

20:00 pm | Harbour Restaurant One of the perks living by the shore is that you get the freshest seafood every day. As one of the oldest and the best seafood restaurants on the Main Street, Harbour Restaurant maybe poorly adorned but its fishes certainly live up to its name.

This particular eatery is famed for its let-the-ingredients-speak attitude. The variety of fish here is vast but the recipe is simple – most of its fish dishes are steamed and topped with different sauces. With fresh ingredient, nuanced flavour such as soy sauce alone is enough to bring out a fish’s freshness. Every bite of its fish, even with the simplest way of cooking, amazes you for how rich it feels yet how simple it is.